Short hops and hard knocks with Red Sox beat writer Ian Browne.

Let's Play Two

Game 1 is in the books. Boston 11, Chicago 3. As openers to a doubleheader go, this one worked out well for the Red Sox.

Beckett gave them just enough (5 2/3) so that the bullpen wasn’t overly taxed. The bullpen broke it open late so Paps didn’t have to pitch. Gagne also didn’t pitch so Tito should have enough weapons for the late innings of the nightcap.

Varitek blamed himself for Wednesday’s loss in Tampa for stranding runners all night, then he comes out and does the captainly thing today, driving in four runs in Game 1.

When the Red Sox pulled the trigger on the J.D. Drew contract back in the winter, I’m guessing they never envisioned having to pinch-hit Bobby Kielty for him against a lefty in late August. But these are tough times for J.D. and it turned out to be a good move by Tito. Kielty got to the plate twice in the late innings and had two sac flies.

The Red Sox spent last night’s rain delay jamming out to a bootleg song made in honor of Okajima. It’s called Okajima Oki-Doke. I kid you not. Mike Lowell promises that it will be played on the scoreboard when the Red Sox return to Fenway next week. I imagine that this song could be the Kevin Millar rally karaoke of 2007.

I caught up with old friend Mike Myers today — yes, one of the 25. Anyway, Mike has landed on his feet here in Chicago after being DFA’d by the Yankees. The White Sox hold an option on him for next year, and Mike seems relatively optimistic they will pick it up. Myers is a class act. He’s happy to see the way fellow lefty submariner Javy Lopez has developed with the Sox. If the Yankees win the World Series, Mike would have rings from both sides of the rivalary. Who is the last person to accomplish that feat? Anyone since Babe Ruth? Well, John W. Henry would qualify given his past stake as a minority owner with the Yankees. Anyone else?

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The rain is going to cease anytime soon. According to the Weather Channel, Chicago hasn’t even taken the full magnitude of the front yet, also if it follows its current path, its next destination would be Detriot, Michigan home of El Tigres and Yankee game tonight. I would assume that aren’t many players besides Ruth and Myers since we didn’t win a ring in 86 years, while the Empire won 26, I’ll do some research though . . . .

Much like that 8 inning, 5 run game vs. Baltimore, I thought Beckett pitched much better than the boxscore will indicate. He lost his control in the first a bit, but even then, the 3-2 pitch which loaded the bases was a backdoor breaking ball that was borderline. 16 wins, hopefully he can tame the Yankees.

Javy Lopez only threw 4 pitches so he’ll be our lefty guy tonight, if needed. Hopefully Schilling can somehow go 7 innings, I know it’s asking a lot since he’s still technically coming back from his DL stint, but maybe Gagne and Papelbon can split up 3 innings between them if necessary.

Aside from that, not much else to say except it’s nice to see double digit runs on the board. Varitek with 4 RBI’s and Lowell with another 2, but I think the biggest RBI’s were Kielty’s. He is the anti-Wily Mo Pena: the White Sox bring a lefty in and Kielty pinch hits for Drew, putting the bat on the ball TWICE for an 0-0 day, 2 RBI’s and 2 sac flies. Even though those runs weren’t necessarily crucial in the grand scheme of things, it’s good to know that when they become important, we have somebody who can put the bat on the ball.

Good win this afternoon. It wasn’t one of Beckett’s better days, but I’ll attribute that to an extra day of rest. He was throwing some stuff up around 98 mph. Good speed, but a little out of sync.

Did you see the article where Tito is standing behind Drew? Tito went on with his usual mindless bantering where he says nothing, but the bottom line is that he’s not standing too close behind him if he won’t play him against left handed pitchers. Here’s a guy who’s supposed to be one of the premier players in the game who rides the bench against lefties. I detect a loss of confidence there. All that being said, all Drew did was take the money because Theo was stupid enough to pay it to him. He could still get hot and do a lot of damage.

Ideal game today. Sox pen is well rested for the rest of the weekend, then an off day Monday. They’ll be invading the Bronx with all the guns loaded and a chance to stick the final dagger in the hearts of the Yankees. Two out of three for the rest of the weekend, two out of three in New York, and this thing is history.

what else would you expect from tito? if they hit well they should be fine…..the key is getting prod from youk, tek, and hopefully drew…..which by an large they did today…..all is not lost though i hear theo sent some scouts to look at julio franco so more off might be on the way!

With 6 weeks to go it is time to put your best team out there. When there is a lefty out there it is time for Kielty to get the at bats and time for Drew to be a fan. I would love to see Drew’s numbers from the 7th inning on. I’m sure his numbers are freaking pathetic. He has given the Red Sox a good first 3 weeks of the season and 1 game vs Arizona and that is about it. A very poor signing by Theo and everyone knew it except for Theo. He fell in love with him a long time ago and always wanted him on the Red Sox. Typical g.m. in sports, they fall in love with a player and want him on there team in the worst way. Sometimes it works out but in this case it has been a total disaster. Of course it is not too late for Drew to turn it around but I have ZERO confidence in him doing so.

Kielty should be in the lineup tonight vs Danks and tomm vs Buehrle. No reason to have Drew in there.

To be able to win both ends of a DH is hard enough, but to do it without having to use your closer is next to impossible. Looks like the Sox accomplished that tonight and Paps will be fresh for two unfavorable matchups Sat. and Sun. when they will need him most (Buehrle v. Wake/ Vazquez v. Tavarez)

With Buehrle you never know what you’ll get. He either pitches real well or he gets hit hard, never a go between. Let’s hope the Sox bats are alive and well tomm, score early and keep the mo going right away. Red Sox can’t wait to get back to the park tomm while the White Sox are dreading going to the park.

That delay in Detroit is unreal. Call the freaking game and make it a DH tomm or Sun. If I was a fan attending that game I would be extremely upset if I had to sit around 4 hours (unless your like me who gets there at 5:30, so in my case 5 and a half hours) waiting for baseball and not getting out for the park until 2 in the morning (and believe me, I’ve been there, downtown Detroit is not exactly Nantucket). Comerica will have about 10-15,000 people there tonight for what most likely was a sold out crowd. Dumb decision making

I totally agree about the descion to play that game. If they did play a doubleheader over the weekend the Yankees would have been screwed for a starter for Tuesday night’s game. I agree with you rizzo about being a fan going to that game, talking about getting screwed. Leaving a baseball game in Detroit at 2:00 A.M. is risky bussiness. Every fan should get a police escort back to there car.

I would agree about Ortiz coming around. The longball is starting to take place, just in time for the Yankees. What I like about the Red Sox bats tonight is they had Danks on the ropes and put him down for the count. We all know at times they let too many pitchers get off the hook.

If they can hit both Buerhle and Vazquez well, you talk about a great way to go into Yankee Stadium with a full head of steam. I agree with an earlier poster, split these next two, win 2 of 3 in the Bronx and I think you can officially declare the division over. I’m off for the night, wish I could watch the Yanks but I got an early morning. Night all

I’ve been busy with my mom and her friend visiting. Things are looking pretty good, eh? I had a feeling this would happen. Youk is starting to look like himself again. And Gagne is maybe 2-3 outings from a clean inning and then he’ll be off to the races. Papi is finding his power. All we need now is Drew to break out his bat and we’ll be flying high. Of course, every time I say that the Sox get killed the next day or 2. Keep your fingers crossed that I haven’t jinxed them!

Schill looked a bit better tonight, his splitter isn’t biting like it used to and I think that’s definitely a pitch he needs against the Yankees. But nobody can really complain about 6 IP, ER…actually, I know of one person who can…

Buehrle has been pretty shaky this month and we have some players who light him up:

Ortiz: .375, 2 HR, 7 RBI

Ramirez: .381, 3 HR, 8 RBI

Crisp: .379, 2 HR, 5 RBI

Kielty: .356, 2 HR, 9 RBI

As long as Cash can contain the knuckleball and Wakefield continues to pitch stellar baseball, we could be looking at a staff with two 16 game winners before August is even over.

good one zachary but in this case you’re wrong……i love schill….he’s certainly not the pitcher he used to be but he locates well and he’s smart….unlike lester and wake he can get away with misses because TYPICALLY he knows where to miss…..just for you though….how is that booby kielty platoon workin out?…0 for 6 today…..and he’s now hitting a wopping 208……**** even drew is better than that…. nice job theo!

0-6? Not sure how extensive your baseball knowledge is, but sacrifice flies do not count as official at-bat’s therefore he went 0-4 with 2 RBI’s, which you also failed to mention.

I know your boy Wily Mo Pena would have done so much better in those situations, right? He would have been a legitimate 0-6, probably with 4 strikeouts and no runs driven in. The bottom line is that Kielty is a better fit than Pena for the 4th outfielder, regardless of how bitter you may be about it.

It was a positive day all around for the Red Sox. Beckett and Schilling delivered solid starts. The bullpen tossed scoreless frames – even Gagne. Youkilis emerged from his slump. Ortiz is raking, as is Lowell. Even Kevin Cash (two hits and an RBI) and Kielty (two sacrifice flies in game one) contributed. Let’s hope Wakefield and Tavarez keep it up on Saturday and Sunday.

I agree about Kielty. He has had some good years in the bigs, and is comfortable as a No. 4 outfielder. He can produce as long as he can start once every four of five games. I think the Sox should bring him back as the No. 4 outfielder next season as well. He plays decent defense at the corner outfield spots, too.

In regards to Drew I think this is a poor statement. If you go back and look at Drew’s numbers there was everything to like. His drawback was not being on the field due to a slew of injuries. I’m not sure there was a lot of foresight out there that his bat would disappear when he played.

Point is we have him for a few years and might as well see if he can return to form in 2008.

zach….they count as outs don’t they?….i’d say my basball knowledge is decent…..so let me re-phrase……he batted 6 times he made 6 outs………2 of them were quality productive outs but they are/were still outs……oh and it’s 204 not 208….i screwed that up as well but i notice you didn’t correct that one……..hey it was late………i’m really not not “bitter” about WMP at all…..in fact i hope kielty plays well……just thought for this team that lacks much pop and considering neither of them are going to play a great deal it didn’t really do anything imp THIS team and i thought that was the goal…….for the record though i actually agree that he (kielty) is a better fit for a 4th outfielder next year ASSUMING drew has even a normal drew type year next year and ortiz and manny ( if he’s still there ) return to normal from power standpoint……i hope bobby gets 5 hits today…..of course they’ll all be singles but nonetheless….just kidding….i do hope he plays well and more imp wake pitches well.

i understand the rules and i understand productive outs…….but those prod outs req help from other people…..look i’m not a big wily mo fan……i’m a fan of what he brought to THIS team and that is the threat to hit it out at any time…….forget the names…..with an equal num of AB’s given the choice of a 250 singles hitter and a 250 power hitter i’ll take the power guy……for THIS team ( with drew, ortiz, and manny having down power numbers ) especially…..that’s all i’m sayin…..and i’ll shut up about it now.

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